Microsoft has confirmed its background effects feature for Microsoft Teams will become available later this month. In an email circulated to Office 365 Subscribers, the company said the roll out will begin in mid-April.
This Microsoft Teams tool allows users to change the background effects in meetings. According to the email, the ability to upload images for customized backgrounds will land in May. This means only pre-selected backgrounds will be available at first.
Back in 2018, Teams received a tool that allowed users to blur their background during video calls. This quickly became a popular feature. Early in 2019, Microsoft announced it would bring custom background to the service.
Microsoft was vague with its launch window, saying custom background would arrive “sometime this year”. That didn’t happen in 2019 and the company shifted to a “within a quarter” promise for the tool. Now, the company has finally put a solid release timeframe.
Uncharted Territory for Teams
Microsoft Teams will receive the custom background tool just as it moves through an unprecedented era. The service has seen its user base double to over 40 million daily active users during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
With Europe’s big five nations effectively shut down; people have become increasingly reliant on online services. By its very nature as an enterprise communication tool, Microsoft Teams was always going to be under strain.
Indeed, Microsoft announced recently that its daily active users base has jumped from around 20 million to 44 million in the space of a week.
